Unfortunately, prices rise dramatically for those early issues, but then I discovered that the early stories were collected in a series of graphic novels called The Chronicles of Conan. As I'm not a fan of trade paperbacks, I looked for hardcover editions, but found them unavailable. So I ordered the first volume through the Barnes & Nobles website, and hoped it would arrive before we left for Texas. We tracked the package as it left the warehouse, and watched it made several stops on its way to San Diego. But it didn't reach our house before we left for vacation.
When we got back, I went through our stack of held mail the first night, and of course, opened the package to look at my beautiful new book. The following night I got to sit down and read it. Unfortunately, one thing I noticed was that the binding seemed rather loose. I was heartbroken, as I loved the book, and didn't want to have to fuss around with returning it through the mail, and waiting several weeks for another copy. And who knew how much returning the damaged book would cost? I tried calling the local Barnes & Noble store, but they wouldn't accept the book in trade, so I called the phone number listed on the invoice.
To my surprise, I found the customer service representative really understanding. Although the normal return period had expired, she decided to overlook that when I explained I had been away on vacation. I told her that, if I knew how to glue the book up myself, I would, but she immediately said, "No David, you ordered a new book, you deserve a new book, and that's what you're going to get." She emailed me a prepaid shipping label, and told me to hold onto the book for now, to enjoy it until the next one came. She also sent the replacement book via priority shipping, even though I had purchased standard shipping for the first book.
The book completely separated from the cover as I read it, but that no longer worried me, as I knew I would be receiving a replacement. When it arrived, I was halfway through my original copy of Volume 1, and switched over to my new copy. Unfortunately, my new book also exhibited the same loose binding, and by the time I finished reading that night, I knew I had the same problem again!
I did some research, and discovered there was a series of hardcovers available (where I figured the bindings would be better), but these were structured differently from the Chronicles series, and I would miss some of the original stories, as they only collected the issues drawn by the series' first artist, Barry Windsor-Smith. So I called customer service a second time, and told them how perplexed I was, and wondered if it even made sense to request another replacement. Surely this was a problem endemic to the production run!
The representative convinced me to give them one more try, and sent me another prepaid return label. This time, my book arrived quicker than ever, after a mere two days. As the packaging was different, I can only assume it came from a different warehouse. Thankfully, the binding on this book didn't loosen as I read it, so finally I was able to enjoy The Chronicles of Conan Volume 1 without worrying about my book coming apart.
I've always loved bookstores, but when I needed to return a book, the clerks aways told me how difficult it was, called in the manager, and sometimes refused my request. Even when they refunded my money, it seemed to take an inordinate amount of time. But the customer service agents at www.barnesandnoble.com bent over backward to take care of me, apologized for the inconvenience, and spent far more money shipping those two extra copies to me--in addition to paying to take the defective ones back--than I paid for the order.
Guess where I'll be buying The Chronicles of Conan Volume 2?
Dragon Dave
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